Author: Dave Navarro

Listening to Rumors by Fleetwood Mac today got me to thinking. (I know, it’s usually dangerous when I think but this time I may have gotten away with it.) Whatever happened to the importance of the full album? I’m sure some still consider it, but it still feels like nobody cares.

What an incredible piece of work Rumors is. Every song on that album is just an undeniable masterpiece. If Fleetwood Mac wanted to release a “Best Of” album, they could almost just re-release Rumors as is. Track listing:

Hit

Hit

Hit

MASSIVE hit

You get the idea. What an incredible and divinely directed group of musicians. Whenever I worry myself with the concept of there being no spiritual hand guiding the universe I remind myself of ensembles like Fleetwood. The Beatles. I have to believe that there is an energy at work.

I recently re-discovered a passion for vinyl. It happened in a very roundabout way. I live in a very modern home that is wired top to bottom with state of the art technology. There are speakers in every ceiling that stream every known platform of music. Super cool. I can turn on whatever I want in whatever room or rooms whenever I want without really ever buying an album. I don’t even have to get up. All from my phone. I can even control whats playing in my house without even being home. Alice in Chains in the master bath? No problem. Beethoven Symphony no. 7 in the kitchen? Done. Yeah, its awesome and the kid in me never would’ve dreamed something like this would be possible. So, technology is amazing. Agreed.

After attending a Roger Waters show one night, I came home inspired. I wanted to listen to Animals all the way through. I sat down on the couch and opened up an app on my phone and began to type in what I was looking for. Sure enough it came up. Animals. Got it. Play. I began to notice that the experience was a little strange. For starters, the music was coming out of the ceiling. It hadn’t occurred to me before but I realized that our ears aren’t designed to listen to sound coming from above, unless we look up. Our ears face forward. Ok, no problem, I mean, I can still hear it. Moving on. Lyrics! Lets read along. I then went over to Google and searched for lyrics and began to read. Texts were coming in, I’d occasionally check some social media pages (I am a struggling addict). I was pretty distracted. Art. Back to Google, “Animals art” search. Wait, these are drawings of actual animals. “Animals art Pink Floyd” search. HERE we go. Hmmmm a little small on my phone but I get the idea. Fuck, he is singing again. Back to the lyrics page. It became frustrating. I put the phone down and decided to just listen. Listening. “Man, this DOES sound a little thin. I don’t remember this being so thin and airy sounding!” Maybe its because I am listening to a streaming mp3 coming at me from the ceiling! : (

I thought I would try to start this up again, as it has been many years since I have written an entire paragraph. I blame my own laziness combined with the ease of social media. I’d say I had almost lost the ability to focus on an idea or concept for longer than a few seconds when it came to content. A swipe, an upload, a sentence or two… That’s it. Through the course of this seemingly endless cycle I would experience an overwhelming amount of emotions in a very short period of time. Anger, lust, fear, laughter, jealousy, superiority, inferiority… One could easily see how all of this stuff is designed to keep us comparing ourselves with one another and ultimately feel bad about ourselves. I felt it was time to disconnect a little. Sure, there are elements about it all that I enjoy… I have friends and family I like to keep up on and I have also made many dear friends as a result of my media outlets. However, for the most part, the whole thing isn’t serving me the way it used to. Maybe it’s getting worse or I am getting older and more sensitive… Either way, I am stepping back. I will still update and upload and swipe here and there because it is, after all, fun sometimes! I am just not interested in being a slave to it. Maybe by saying that I am admitting that I was.

I have recently become passionate about a number of new things in my life. I am realizing that I am not the kind of guy who can share his passion or explain his enthusiasm in 140 characters or a single image, hence this new outlet. I don’t want to have to condense or struggle for air among a bunch of ads and comments and arguments and negativity. I just want a space where I can ramble on about things I love and enjoy, people who inspire me and occasionally complain about “how things were better when I was young”.